Eliane Elias

Pianist and vocalist Eliane Elias fuses the structured elegance of classical music with the improvisational freedom of jazz and the melodic richness of Brazilian MPB through her masterful command of the keyboard and voice. From her initial tenure in the forward-thinking jazz collective Steps Ahead onward, she has carved distinctive artistic routes across her independent releases and live appearances. Her keyboard work revealed both intimacy and refinement on the 1987 debut Illusions, where she collaborated with such notables as Stanley Clarke, Eddie Gomez, and Lenny White. In 1993 she became among the earliest musicians to issue concurrent jazz and classical projects via Paulistana and On the Classical Side, while also joining pianist Herbie Hancock on the 1995 recording Solo & Duets. Recognition arrived in the form of a Grammy Award for the 2015 album Made in Brasil and a Latin Grammy for 2017’s Dance of Time. Although her poetic and tender singing remains a signature element, heard prominently on the 2019 chart-topping Love Stories, she sustains her stature as a dynamic and skilled pianist, confirmed by the Grammy-winning 2021 duets collection Mirror Mirror that includes Chick Corea and Chucho Valdes. She persists in uniting bossa nova with modern jazz idioms, evident on 2022’s Quietude and 2024’s Time and Again, enlisting contributors such as Dori Caymmi, Djavan, and Bill Frisell.

Elias entered the world in São Paulo during 1960 and may trace part of her musical aptitude to her mother Lucy, a classical pianist who regularly spun jazz discs inside the household. Following six years of instruction at the Free Center of Music Apprenticeship in São Paulo, she pursued further classical study under Amilton Godoy and Amaral Vieira. During adolescence she began writing original compositions and appearing in jazz venues. A 1981 European tour introduced her to bassist Eddie Gomez, who urged her relocation to New York. Upon reaching the city the next year she received private lessons from Olegna Fuschi at the Juilliard School of Music. Her professional profile rose sharply after an invitation to join Steps Ahead, the jazz supergroup that featured Michael Brecker, Peter Erskine, Mike Manieri, and Eddie Gomez; she contributed to the ensemble’s sole album, Steps Ahead, issued in 1983.

Not long after departing Steps Ahead, Elias started working with trumpeter Randy Brecker, whom she later married and subsequently divorced; their only joint album, Amanda, appeared in 1985 and took its title from their daughter. The following year she inaugurated her bandleading career, alternating engagements between two trios—one with drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Gomez, the other with drummer Erskine and bassist Marc Johnson. She has also performed with a third trio comprising Johnson, whom she married in 1999, and drummer Satoshi Takeishi.

Blue Note signed her in 1989, resulting in the label debut So Far So Close that showcased numerous guests. Although the bulk of her catalog remains instrumental, she first unveiled her understated yet textured vocals on the 1990 album Eliane Elias Plays Jobim and has incorporated singing intermittently thereafter. Her 1995 album Solos and Duets contains an expertly realized duet with Herbie Hancock. Beyond periodic involvement in Toots Thielemans’ Brasil Project, she has acted as musical director for Gilberto Gil’s ensemble.

While she maintained a steady recording pace through the remainder of the 1990s, the 2000 release Impulsive! delivered one of the more unexpected turns in her trajectory when she partnered with conductor and arranger Bob Brookmeyer at the helm of the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra. In 2002 she moved from Blue Note to RCA’s Bluebird imprint, debuting with the largely vocal Kissed by Nature and following it with the graceful Dreamer in 2004. Around the City surfaced in 2006, a set dominated by vocal selections that ventured deeper into pop terrain through interpretations of material by Santana, Bob Marley, and even Beck; it marked her final Bluebird project.

She rejoined Blue Note for 2007’s Something for You: Eliane Elias Sings & Plays Bill Evans, leading a trio alongside Johnson, who had performed with Evans, and drummer Joey Baron. In 2009 she delivered what many regard as her most accomplished recording, Bossa Nova Stories, fully embracing her Brazilian lineage through bossa and samba while demonstrating her distinctive jazz sensibilities at the piano. Savoy Records brought out Timeless Eliane Elias in 2010, a retrospective drawn from her mid-1980s sessions Illusions and Cross Currents. Late that year she signed with Concord, and in spring 2011 she issued Light My Fire, her first outing for the label. A year later she again teamed with bassist and husband Johnson for the instrumental ECM session Swept Away. In 2013 she honored trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker with I Thought About You: A Tribute to Chet Baker. Two years afterward she presented the rich tribute to her Brazilian origins, Made in Brasil, which received the Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album.

March 2017 saw the arrival of Dance of Time on Concord. Joining her rhythm section of bassist Marcello Mariano and drummer Edu Ribeiro were guests Mike Manieri, Randy Brecker, Mark Kibble, and João Bosco. The repertoire centered on classic samba pieces and incorporated the style within arrangements of jazz standards by Harry Warren and Kurt Weill; it also contained three original compositions plus “Not to Cry (Pra Não Chorar),” a collaboration with Toquinho that he had initiated a decade earlier under the title “Eliane” before the pair completed it. Upon release, Dance of Time debuted at number one on both the Traditional Jazz Albums and World Music Albums charts. In November the Latin Recording Academy presented it with the Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz/Jazz Album.

During the mid-1990s, Mitch Leigh, the Tony-winning composer of the landmark musical Man of La Mancha, reached out to Elias after following her path and admiring Eliane Elias Plays Jobim. Together with Neil Warner, arranger of the original production, he commissioned her to reimagine, perform, and document a fresh collection of songs from the show, granting her total interpretive liberty that encompassed song selection. Recording took place in 1995 at New York’s Power Station studio, where she assembled two rhythm sections—one featuring Jack DeJohnette and bassist Eddie Gomez, the other with Marc Johnson on bass, Satoshi Takeishi on drums, and Manolo Badrena on percussion. The musicians captured the material live in the studio, and she finalized nine selections that were subsequently mixed at Leigh’s Secret Studio in New York. Contractual obstacles ultimately shelved the finished album, consigning it to apparent oblivion; Leigh’s passing in 2014 meant he never witnessed its appearance. Concord released Music for Man of La Mancha in April 2018, twenty-three years after the sessions.

In 2019 Elias issued the orchestral Love Stories, reuniting her with Made in Brasil arranger Rob Mathes; the project reached the Top Five of Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart. Mirror Mirror appeared in September 2021 and captured intimate collaborations with acclaimed pianists Chucho Valdes and Chick Corea, the latter of whom died seven months prior to the album’s release. It earned the Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album.

With 2022’s Quietude, Elias revisited Brazilian traditions. Co-produced with husband and bassist Johnson, the album incorporated contributions from vocalist Dori Caymmi, guitarist Marcus Teixeira, guitarist Lula Galvão, and additional musicians. A further fusion of Brazilian and contemporary jazz textures characterized 2024’s Time and Again. Recorded in São Paulo with co-producers Johnson and Steve Rodby, the album included guest appearances by guitarist Bill Frisell and Brazilian singer Djavan.